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Bears Agree To Trade Brandon Marshall to Jets

You can make an argument for Brandon Marshall to be the greatest wide receiver to ever play for the Chicago Bears, but as any Bears fan would tell you, in most cases the greats of this franchise carry the most disappointment.

After a three-season run where he firmly entrenched himself in the top 10 of all the Bears’ career receiving stat categories, Marshall and everyone else found out Friday morning that a deal is in place to send the gifted but often perplexing offensive talent to the New York Jets. What the Bears are to receive is still to be announced, the deal itself will not be made official until this coming Tuesday when NFL free agency is open to all transactions.

Bears have agreed to trade WR Brandon Marshall to the Jets pending a physical, per league source.

Marshall did do enough to establish a legacy in Chicago but in the face of his least competitive season with the team in 2014 it could be argued that Marshall did little to establish himself as a leader in the team’s locker room or even to establish himself as any positive factor.

On the field, the soon-to-be 31-year-old with five Pro Bowl appearances to his name certainly has more good football left in him and there’s reason for Bears fans who would rather he play out that remaining prime of his career in Chicago to feel disappointed today, but its obvious that Marshall’s focus on winning football waned by last fall.

With his determination to take part in tapings of “Inside the NFL” during all weeks of the season and the slight bursts of his more uncontrollable past coming through more in public again, Marshall may have been on the brink of a remaining existence in Chicago that could have been damaging for him.

As it stands now, he gets to exit on relatively decent terms and he turns his efforts to a market that offers more media opportunities to his liking and though the NY sports media is notoriously tough it also has a lot on its hands and its very much used to seeing the Jets lose. There won’t be much in the way of direct pressure, Marshall will be able to live in a way that is much more forward-thinking.

And speaking of looking forward and not back…with this move Marshall also won’t be tied into the whole Jay Cutler thing further. They tried, but Chicago’s most star-crossed teammate tandem could not find their redemption off the shores of Lake Michigan. No titles came our way and Marshall is still the most talented current NFL player to not have played one postseason game.

Many former Bears players and coaches have been provided the benefit of relieving themself of Cutler as of late — all except the majority of us following the franchise, one that due to Cutler’s over-sized contract is likely to have made their final emotional unloading of this off-season. You know what they say — money talks, bullshit…

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